


Phantom Shadows On The Floor

by dutchydoescoke



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 15:52:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/663782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutchydoescoke/pseuds/dutchydoescoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Returning to Bag End after the quest for Erebor is, for Bilbo, the most difficult thing he's done in a long time.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phantom Shadows On The Floor

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt at the kink meme:
>
>> Listening to my Les Mis soundtrack, I realised that the song "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is totally relevant post-BotFA.
>> 
>> Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me  
> What your sacrifice was for  
> Empty chairs at empty tables  
> Where my friends will meet no more 
>> 
>> Any or no pairings are fine 
> 
> I AM SO SORRY. THIS HURT TO WRITE. (In other news, if you wish to listen to the song mentioned, I personally recommend [Nick Jonas' version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMZQXhg4MWQ), since it was the version I listened to while writing it. 

Returning to Bag End after the quest for Erebor is, for Bilbo, the most difficult thing he's done in a long time.

Stepping inside, the mark on the door Gandalf left still glowing faintly as it swings shut, Bilbo swallows past a sudden lump in his throat. There's still mud on the carpets, and on his mother's glory box, but he can't find it in him to muster the same disdain that he had when Kili initially scraped his boots on it. There's notches, in the hardwood, from him dropping Fili's swords, and Bilbo finds himself reaching for what's passed for his pocket handkerchief these past months, the scrap of cloth from Bofur's tunic.

There's tiny things, remnants of the dwarves' visit, but the house is otherwise pristine and Bilbo finds it hurts even more, than if his house was still in the state the dwarves had left it in when he went to bed that evening.

He finds his dishes still stacked the way the dwarves left them, tiny scraps of paper from Ori's writing that must have evaded the broom, and even the lingering smell of the dwarves' pipes, under the slightly stale air.

What does him in, more than anything, is finding a note on his mantelpiece, addressed to him from the Company, obviously written the morning they'd left, apologizing for eating all of his pantry. There's Bofur's neat handwriting, a string of words that Bilbo recognizes now as Khuzdul from Bifur; there's bits from Balin and Dwalin, the latter including a half-hearted apology for being gruff that Bilbo suspects was forced out of him; there's Kili and Fili's scrawls, both of them apologizing for getting mud everywhere and Kili offering to scrape the mud off once they've completed their quest and can return.

There are others, too, but Bilbo can't finish the note. His vision is too blurred, and he buries his face in his makeshift handkerchief and sobs, because the loss hadn't hit him until now. Kili and Fili, both of them so young, are dead, from helping Thorin try to take back Erebor. Thorin never got to see Erebor restored.

None of them will.

Others of the Company will, but Bilbo heard Ori and Balin discussing Moria, and he knows that they'll attempt once more to take it back, and soon, heartened by the reclamation of Erebor.

And Bilbo... Bilbo wants nothing more than to go back to that night, so very long ago now, and tell them the price of Erebor's riches, to tell them of how the goldlust that claimed them upon reaching it caused the deaths of not one but three of their number. He wants to go back and convince them not to, to beg and plead until Thorin, thick as his own shield, listens to him.

He wants, but it is in vain, because while Bag End echoes with the ghosts of joyous songs, all they are is ghosts, and not even Gandalf could help him change what has happened. So he will sit here, and he will hum to himself the songs the dwarves taught him, and he will hope to never again see such a thing happen to someone he cares for.


End file.
